Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain moderately bullish on Booking Holdings: Of 36 analysts, 27 rated the stock a buy, eight a hold and one a strong buy. The average 12-month price target is approximately $236.45.
• Booking reported quarterly EPS of $2.54, exceeding the $2.43 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $7.35 billion and rose 8.1% year over year.
• Insiders sold $16.1 million of stock over the past 90 days under pre-arranged trading plans, while institutional investors own 92.42% of the company. The stock recently traded at $213.36, up 1.8%.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $236.4506.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Truist Financial set a $242.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, HSBC cut their price target on Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total transaction of $206,700.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,100,500. The trade was a 6.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,618,327.82. The trade was a 25.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Booking

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $213.36 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $189.38 and a 200-day moving average of $177.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $230.98.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business's revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $55.40 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Booking will post 10.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking's payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company's businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.

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